**Chapter Thirteen**
“Man, it’s coming down hard,” Drew said, looking out the window. “Want to do something relaxing?” He asked me.
We’ve been stuck in the car since it started pouring down raining. Drew didn’t think it would be safe for him to drive back to campus in the conditions that we were in. He mainly didn’t want to drive because he didn’t want to hurt me. If he were by himself, he would have. I thought it was sweet that he didn’t want to potentially crash and cause me pain. How sweet can one get?
I nod in agreement with his proposal. It’s not like we had anything else to do, anyway. Regardless, he told me to put the seat back, and he did his as well. He opened the cover to his sunroof as the rain crashed against the glass. The sound was so relaxing. Especially just looking at the gray sky while laying back in the seat. I could almost fall asleep like this.
Drew laid back in his seat with me as I kicked off my shoes. I didn’t want to get my shoes all over his seat as I put my feet up. It was really making me sleepy as I closed my eyes. The sound of the rain coursing through my ears while knowing Drew was next to me made this perfect. I’m almost happy it rained.
Breaking our silence, Drew spoke up, getting things intense between us. Just a bit. “Did you really give Keegan your number?” He asked me. His eyes stayed glued to the sunroof as he spoke to me.
I turned my head over, contemplating why he would always ask about every guy I talked to. First Cameron, which was going nowhere. Now he was questioning me about Keegan. Over the past couple of weeks, I don’t know what his deal was. It didn’t help that he would never answer me truthfully, either. Leaving me confused and a sense of guilt all in one.
Sighing, I turned back to look at the sunroof too. “Yeah, I did,” I answered honestly. “With everyone having someone, I didn’t want to feel left out.”
“Is that truly why you gave him your number, or is it something more?” He continued with the questions.
I giggle nervously. “No, I think he’ll be a great guy, too.” My head faces him again. “Does it matter, though?”
Now he got a little angry. “Yes it matters, Annabelle. Why would you give your number to someone you don’t even know?”
I don’t know why this was turning into a confrontation, but it did. I didn’t like that he was trying to tell me what to do with my phone. Where he didn’t like that, I kept talking to random guys without knowing them well. Wasn’t that the point of dating? I’m sure before he dated Juliana, he didn’t know her and now look at them. They’re happy with each other mostly and have been since his second year in high school. Why couldn’t I experience the same with Keegan or whoever else I meet? His rationale made no sense.
“Isn’t that the whole point of dating? I am in college now. Where people come from all over. I will not know every guy I talk to off the gate.” I stepped up in confidence when speaking to him this time. “Why does it matter to you, anyway? As a friend, shouldn’t you be happy for me?”
With that, he sighed, realizing I was right. “Hmm, I should be…” he trailed off. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up and then be heartbroken. You forget I am a guy. I know how we operate, Annabelle.”
That part was true, but it didn’t justify his anger with the matter. “It doesn’t change the fact that you’ve done this twice already,” I say.
He looked at me, perplexed. “I have not!” He got defensive.
I sat up, looking back at him. “You did this with Cameron, who you still snub whenever you see him. Now you’re doing it with Keegan, too.”
He shut up once he heard what I had to say. I made some valid points by showing him his behavior. If he would not be honest with me about what he was truly thinking, then he needed to shut up. Drew meant a lot to me thus, making his opinion mean a lot as well. However, he was going to watch me like I was his daughter or something. I’m allowed to give my number to whoever I wanted, and that was that.
His eyes didn’t look my way once I said that. I can tell his mind was racing a mile a minute. There wasn’t anything I could say without him responding to me. The point is that this wasn’t the first time he’s acted this way. I wanted an answer to why, but I knew he wouldn’t say anything about it.
Sighing once more, Drew’s hands grabbed at my waist, pulling me back down. That was the first time I’ve felt him grab me like that, making my body shiver. The minute his hands moved away, I missed them dearly. Everything between us has been weird and confusing. I didn’t know if I should walk or run when it came to my feelings for him. This friendship thing he proposed wasn’t going as planned. Not on my part. He very much saw me as a friend and he let that be known every chance he had.
Regardless, he didn’t want to talk further about it. Much to my dismay. “Enjoy the rain, Annabelle,” he says, still not looking at me.
“But Drew-”
He hushed me, putting his finger on my lips. “Come on, it’s beautiful.” He insisted, ruffling my hair.
Sighing, I laid back, enjoying the sounds of the rain hitting the glass once more. I rather we have a conversation about what’s going on, but he didn’t want to. How would we ever get things off our chest? At this rate, our friendship would always be in the rocky place that it was in. What would we even call this?
Not dwelling on it too much, after a few moments of silence, I felt my eyes getting heavy as I slowly drifted off to sleep.
>>|<<
Whatever time it was now, I woke up feeling the car moving. The rain stopped and Drew was able to drive better now. There was a blanket over me as I sat up and looked out the window. I hadn’t realized I fell asleep or for how long. Looking, it seems like an hour went by before the rain let up. We were almost back on the campus grounds when I came to.
Drew glanced at me, forming a small smile on his face. I guess his attitude changed since we both got some rest. At least, I think he did. He could’ve been up the whole time, for all I know. Still, it was nice to see his smiling face and not the angry one. Of course, I liked Drew no matter what emotion he showed. He was only human, after all.
That aside, I give him a small smile back, looking in the mirror at how messy my hair got. It used to be long before I cut it. But even with it this short, it still somehow got messy when I slept. You’d think with it so many inches shorter, it would be easy to maintain. It was not.
“Didn’t your hair used to be longer?” Drew questioned, pulling into the parking lot.
I nod. “Yeah, it was quite long actually, but I wanted a new look,” I say. “Do-do you think it’s ugly?” I don’t know what made me ask that, but I did.
Drew chuckled. “It doesn’t matter what I think so long as you like,” he said. “But I do, in fact, love it and the colors.” He reassured me.
It was a complete contrast to Juliana’s hair, which was dark and long. Almost past her butt for a frame of reference. Even when my hair was long, it was only in the middle of my back. Now it was just above my shoulders with my little bangs to complement the shortness. Usually I’d wear it in its natural wavy state with my pastel rainbow scheme. I didn’t think the rainbow would look good on me, but Dillon insisted and she was right. It looked great. Especially since it was pastel and not so bright. I’m glad Drew liked it as well. His opinion meant a lot, or maybe I was trying to gauge the things he liked and did so I could change it. Either way, I accepted his word for it.
Parking his car, Drew looked at me once more. It’s like he wanted to say something but couldn’t think of the words to speak. It was surprising because he always knew what to say, but this time he was stumped. Drew was actually at a loss for words. This was a historical moment for me.
Seeing as he couldn’t speak, I hopped out of the car after slipping my shoes on my feet. Drew followed suit and we met at the back of the SUV. Awkwardly, Drew scratched the back of his neck, still trying to find the words to speak. I would not walk away until he spoke them either. This was something that would start to change our relationship in the long run. As small of a gesture as it was, it meant a lot to the both of us.
Still scratching the back of his neck, Drew looked down at me, licking his lips. “Um, thanks for hanging out today. I would have been bored else-wise.” He finally said.
I crossed my arms, nudging him gently. “Thank you for the amazing sushi. We’ll have to go to an actual sushi restaurant sometime.” We better.
He chuckled and then, out of nowhere, Drew wrapped his arms around me. He pulled me close to him as he squeezed slightly. I was surprised and didn’t know what to do at first. Should I squeeze him back? Do I push him away? What do I do? It didn’t seem like he would let me go until I did, so fearfully, my arms wrapped around him tightly.
Once I did that, I can feel him pull me closer, instantly making me melt into him. It was baffling how he made me feel so small embraced by him like this. His body was a lot more toned than I expected it to be. Then again, it was hard to tell what it looked like, considering he always wore baggy clothes. It also didn’t help how wonderful he smelled, filling my nostrils with the most beautiful scent. I almost couldn’t help but sniff him. My hands didn’t want to let him go either, but alas, we couldn’t stay like this forever.
Instead of me being the one to let go, Drew did first and if I hadn’t caught myself, I would have fallen over. The effect Drew had on me would never go away. He truly was my weakness and I think he realized that.
Smiling one last time, Drew said bye to me before we went our separate ways. The breath I held in released again and I found myself right back to square one.